![\"<p>Jeremy](\"https:\/\/lh4.googleusercontent.com\/MtMouknppPRKAZ3EbsuBDp4C2Fg4vXGFOCUFE8xy4TNnBZLPCL_3ekXetgHdLnaRr-feFAWJQBTBQseEJzCpYESX9NkuzM9eazbwgFpr795E7QM64lbA91LUWztdm1wRKhGnXkO60Jav66E0Sg\")
<\/figure>\n\n\n\nJeremy Vine posted on Twitter threats made against him by anti-vaxxers on Telegram<\/p>\n\n\n\n
(Jeremy Vine\/Twitter)<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said the US has seen escalating violence as a result of sovereign citizens and warned that the situation in the UK will only get worse if it goes unchecked, adding: \u201cIt is only a matter of time before someone snaps\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said \u201cmost often there is a level of desperation\u201d which leads people to the ideology as a last resort. \u201cBack in the Eighties and Nineties in America it was financial desperation. There was a lot of financial fear around foreclosure [and] in swoops a sovereign citizen, like a guru or group leader.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said they would tell prospective members \u201cthere is some sort of magic cure-all\u201d, convincing people they were victims and \u201cthere is a way to get back at the people who wronged them\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Goldwasser said the ideology is now being fed to families who have had children removed by social services. \u201cA sovereign will validate that they are not the reason they lost their child to the state \u2013 that they are the victim,\u201d she said. \u201cSome also offer court services to help [families] get their kids back\u2026 for a fee.\u201d This is not without risk and, in one case, a self-titled \u201csovereign attorney\u201d in Florida was shot and killed after his pseudo-legal court challenge failed to return a woman\u2019s children.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She said there is now a large number of Trump voters \u201cstressed\u201d that he is no longer president, a situation which, combined with QAnon conspiracies, has led many of them to become sovereign citizens. The appeal of QAnon and sovereign citizenship, Goldwasser said, is the fact that members \u201cfeel like they know the real truth that others don\u2019t know\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Because of this, members build up confidence \u2013 something which has led to several US sovereign citizens \u201cpulling weapons on law enforcement\u201d. She said while most members in the UK have seemed relatively calm, she has \u201czero doubt that the situation will get worse \u2013 it is only a matter of time before someone snaps\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
For many in the UK, the primary sources of information are the Common Law Court company and the UK Column \u2013 a niche West Country newspaper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Common Law Court is run via a website to which members can pay a \u00a350-per-month subscription to \u201creclaim [their] rights\u201d. By subscribing, members get an \u201cidentity card\u201d declaring their sovereign status and the ability to access a plethora of fake legal documents. The company is also setting up its own cryptocurrency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
UK Column began in Plymouth in 2006 as the Devonport Column, a self-published newspaper with a readership of around 500 people. Convinced that the council was involved in an elaborate scheme to lie to the people, editor Brian Gerrish \u2013 a retired navy lieutenant \u2013 made it his mission to print the truth as he saw it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A devout Christian and author of several books on theology, Gerrish is hyper-focused on the corruption of the legal system and the Bilderberg Group. The gathering of global powers, which began at the Hotel de Bilderberg in 1954 and has taken place every year since, was originally intended to prevent another world war. According to Gerrish \u2013 and a variety of conspiracy theorists \u2013 the group\u2019s lack of transparency points towards the creation of a New World Order and a global elite.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gerrish has participated in a number of protests against this supposed elite and, in 2011, he joined the British Constitution Group as it attempted to conduct a citizen\u2019s arrest on a judge presiding over the trial of a man who had failed to pay his council tax.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Having spent years on the sidelines, including a failed run as an independent candidate in local elections, Gerrish and UK Column owe their current popularity to their willingness to jump on the anti-vax train. In response to the vaccine rollout for 12- to 17-year-olds, the paper\u2019s website posted a live debate where it was suggested that children may be at \u201csignificant risk from both vaccines and vaccinated adults\u201d. There is no scientific evidence for this, but it fits within their previous agenda of supposed child-safeguarding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Elements of both QAnon and common law are combined in various anti-vax groups, who have convinced themselves the government is using the Covid vaccine to harm children and that it is their job to prevent it. One group, \u201cMagna Carta 61\u201d led by Glaswegian beautician Janie Walsh, has served notices to police accusing them of genocide and recently \u201cseized\u201d Edinburgh Castle. The aim was to return the castle to its \u201crightful owner\u201d \u2013 an unemployed security guard who they believe is King Arthur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The majority of Magna Carta 61 group members state that they are self-employed or in low-paid positions \u2013 the demographic hit hardest by lockdowns.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Peter Knight, professor of American Studies at Manchester University who has researched conspiracy theories, said they are difficult to tackle because they are often \u201ctied up with a person\u2019s sense of identity\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To combat them, Professor Knight said governments \u201cneed to introduce regulatory measures to force platforms to uphold the kind of standards we expect from traditional media and other public fora.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The comorbidity of sovereign citizen and QAnon ideologies peaks in social media posts from Darral Pinch, who co-runs the Common Law Court. Pinch and his wife Laraine regularly post a variety of conspiracies on Facebook, from 9\/11 being faked by CGI to suggestions that random phrases are clues to the Queen being replaced by a satanic cabal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In April 2020, Pinch celebrated the crowning of \u201cKing John III\u201d, an Australian man who claimed he was the rightful heir to the British throne. Six months later, the family of Joseph Gregory Hallett (as he is actually known) were interviewed on YouTube and proved that he was neither a descendent of royalty nor heir to the throne.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Common Law Court hastily recanted and suggested they had been duped, but a video posted on Facebook this year showed other members of the organisation and Magna Carta 61 group attending the swearing-in ceremony for the man they claim to be King Arthur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Our investigation has revealed this man to be Gareth Barrett, a 41-year-old self-professed close protection specialist from Taunton. Barrett has previously claimed to be a member of the SAS and currently owns a business named Kingsman Secret Service.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Barrett has previously been pictured with Hallett and a photograph of his swearing-in ceremony as \u201cKing Arthur\u201d features a man who appears to be a staff writer for UK Column.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Since September, Barrett has issued a number of proclamations via the Magna Carta Telegram group, advising followers to stop paying bills and council tax \u2013 which many have now done \u2013 because he claims Donald Trump has rendered UK statute law null and void. The reasoning behind this is that Trump (supposedly) co-owns the Commonwealth with the so-called King John III.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When approached for comment, the Home Office said freedom to protest within the law is a \u201cfundamental part of democracy\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But, added a spokesperson: \u201cThe police must deal swiftly with the selfish minority of protesters whose actions endanger the public, or stop people going about their lives.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Gareth Barrett, Brian Gerrish and UK Column were contacted for comment but have not responded.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The group served him a notice of liability for what they dubbed \u201ccrimes against humanity\u201d for his stance on vaccines, weeks after doing the same at the home of TV\u2019s Dr Hilary Jones. Just days ago, the same anti-vax mob descended on a hospital in Colchester, where they tried to serve frontline health workers the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":975,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[48,35,45,71],"ctzn_campaign_type":[],"ctzn_theme":[186],"ctzn_investigation_type":[101],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n